The community policing model introduced in Trichy, India addressed high crime rates and lack of public trust in police. Commissioner J.K. Tripathy selected dedicated beat officers to engage with the public and gain their cooperation. Beat officers were empowered to make independent decisions and address community issues. This helped improve police-community relations and information sharing. Crime rates dropped 40% and public support for police increased as they were seen as more responsive partners. The model demonstrated how community engagement and empowering local officers can transform public safety.

1. Assignment 1
Paper VI.4.3: Innovation Management
Community Policing Model: A Case Study
Submitted by:
Aditi Chawla
Adhiraj Rawat
Akshee Jain
Mayank Arora
Parul Madaan
Tushar Mishra

2. Community Policing Model
Problem
When J.K. Tripathy took over as the Commissioner of Trichy police in 1999, people were
extremely suspicious of the police who were seen as extortionists bullying the weak and
genuflecting to the powerful. The major challenge posed in front of Mr. Tripathy was "How can
a cynical, suspicious organization and its equally suspicious, disenchanted 'clients' be turned
around?" The problem that Trichy faced was the high crime rate. There were racial and religious
conflicts, rioting, murder, mayhem and other anti-social activities. The community was losing
confidence in the police and the widening gap denied any community support. The police faced
problems in gaining the confidence and acceptance of the public, getting information on crimes
and criminals and mobilizing public support, in maintaining harmony among various racial and
religious groups.
Solution
There was a need for the police to not only challenge forces of fundamentalism and lawlessness,
but also instill a sense of confidence amongst the people. To achieve this, Mr. Tripathy, an IPS
officer introduced the following community policing model.
Model
Strategies
The comprehensive model encompassed total area and community – from children to senior
citizens – covering entire range of socio-economic strata in this city. For addressing issues that
were area-specific and target-group specific, the strategies for community policing were
formulated both at macro and micro levels, considering the ethnic, cultural and socio-economic
diversities in the city.
At macro level:
• Beat Officers’ System
• Complaint/Suggestion Box System
• Wide Area Network
At micro level:
• Helpline for Women
• Slum Adoption Programme

3. Beat Officers System
This basic strategy was aimed at reintegrating the police with the fabric of community. The city
was divided into 57 beat zones and 4 constables were made in charge of each beat and were
designated as ‘Beat Officers’. This instilled a sense of pride in them and empowered them to
make independent decisions, made them more responsible and responsive to public needs.
Policemen were also encouraged to attend to civic problems to gain goodwill and support of the
people. Through all this, the police succeeded in creating an atmosphere that was citizen friendly
and was conducive for the public to share information. From the crime prevention point of view,
sheer presence of Beat Officers on the streets prevented drunken-brawls, eve-teasing, activities
of local rowdies etc., which, generally, go unreported to police stations. The people appreciated
the efforts made by the police and volunteered assistance to prevent crime prevention.
Complaint Box System
Complaint Boxes were set up at different parts of the city to receive information from the public
who preferred to remain unidentified and yet participate in their effort to assist the police. Such
letters were collected daily and acted upon quickly to encourage the informants.
Wide Area Network (W.A.N.)
This strategy, apart from streamlining departmental administration was aimed at people-friendly
policing and vastly improving the service delivery. W.A.N. was introduced in July 2000 linking
all, police stations and offices with internet and email service. This facility has brought the police
closer to the public, making the police more responsive, transparent and interactive.
Help Line for Distressed Women
A help line was launched on 15th August 2000 to receive distress calls round the clock by a team
of police, activists and students. Besides receiving the calls, they visit the victims; provide
counseling, legal help, medical support etc. The Trichy police went one step further, by
promoting awareness on women’s rights and legal services. It focused on rehabilitation of 144
victims, by providing accommodation, education, vocational training, and employment, along
with their children, with the help of NGOs, women organizations, and social welfare departments
etc.
Slum Adoption Programme
Due to poverty and a diverse socio economical profile, slums in any city become the hub for
criminal activities. The laws of differential association and the environment promote this. These
areas become less and less accessible to the police and over a period of time police personnel
fear in visiting these areas. To make these areas more accessible, the police initiated by
improving the living conditions of the people. Some of the steps taken in this direction were:
• Mass awareness programmes were conducted on hygiene, problems related to
drugs/alcoholism and AIDS.
• Women self-help groups were formed, vocational training was imparted and assistance
was given to them for manufacturing and marketing their products.
• In collaboration with the public and NGOs, a Community Centre was set up.
• Medical camps were arranged, youth activities in sports were sponsored and an initiative
was taken to improve the environment of the community by tree planting.

4. All these initiatives yielded an unbelievable result! 162 potential criminals volunteered to reform
themselves and were rehabilitated with the help of NGOs, government and private agencies.
Story behind the Idea
In 1999, the situation was quite tense in Trichy following the Coimbatore bomb blasts. The
Prime Minister was due to visit the city for a party meeting. There was considerable concern for
the PM's security.
When Tripathy wanted to find out which groups were active and what activities they were
focusing on, he got little information. Tripathy knew he had to get information urgently but he
also knew that he couldn't rely on the existing ways of getting it. These had reached a point of
diminishing returns. He had to try something different.
He hit upon the idea of choosing fifty of his most reliable men, constables who had a 'good'
record. The characteristics included under ‘good’ are:
• Honesty,
• Not taking bribes,
• having no bad habits such as drinking or womanizing,
• Being polite to others, especially the public.
These people were asked to stay in their localities for a week and their only job was to listen to
what was happening and feedback information related to security threats to Tripathy.
They did not have to physically report at their police stations. He gave them his mobile number
and they were to call him at any time of the day or night with information.
The quality of information that Tripathy received enabled him to take preventive actions that
ensured that the PM's visit went smoothly. Once the security threat to the PM had been
overcome, Tripathy decided to extend this to information related to crime.
The constables also told him that their rapport with their neighbors was increasing and they were
able to renew old contacts. When he heard this, Tripathy hit upon the idea of using the
Community Policing Model that has worked so well in developed democracies.
Implementation
Initial Stage
• The constables were told to continue staying at home and providing information to
Tripathy - this time on crime.
• There was resistance from the Station House Officers (SHOs), mainly because this ate
into their earnings and lack of knowledge/awareness was no more an escape button.

5. • This was overcome by Tripathy himself being the conduit of information. The constables
informed him and he informed the SHO.
• Soon, results started coming in and crime dropped dramatically in these localities.
• This is when Tripathy decided to scale up a modified version of this experiment across
Trichy.
Process
Step I: Selection of the candidates
Tripathy's first step was to choose the right people. He screened the 2,600 odd police force and
hand-picked 260 constables.
a) Selection criterion:
• They were chosen on the basis of internal police CID files (those with no history of
corruption, no bad habits, those who were polite, and had a track record of effectiveness)
and were rigorously screened by Tripathy.
• He met each person a number of times and shortlisted constables who seemed most open
to change. The screening took a time of entire one week.
b) Fitting of the person:
• To select the best constables and, to decide which environment they would best fit into,
mapping of the person to appropriate area was done.
• For example, those who were more educated and comparatively gentler would adapt well
in posh areas and those who were comparatively 'tougher' would fit into say, a slum
environment.
Step II: Creating Awareness
After shortlisting the best people, tripathy created ownership and buy-in by bringing about an
awareness of the non-personality factors that lead to crime. After talking and questioning the
criminals, he could see that the environment was a major breeding ground for anti-social and
criminal activities.
Many often take to crime because it's the easiest way out. When they grow up in severely
deprived localities and they see that the rule of law is neither fair nor equal to all, they take to
crime as it is the easiest way to earn a living
It created awareness that people aren't born criminals. Nor do they grow up with criminal
tendencies. And if one could improve the environment, it would limit anti-social activity.
Step III: Building Ownership
The next challenge was to build ownership. After getting the right people, everything co-evolved
with the constables.
He suggested the beat system of four people who wouldn't be transferred for at least two years
and asked them how this could be made to work. Whatever suggestions they gave were
immediately experimented with.

6. Factors that helped in creating tremendous ownership:
Factor 1:
Constables were not given starting lectures on community policing. These officers began without
knowing the principle. They learnt on the job, saw results, came back and asked for more
information. When they asked for more information, community policing articles were translated
into Tamil for them. They read the notes and came back saying “This is similar, but ours is
unique because we have developed it rather than the bosses”
Factor 2:
According to Tripathy, “It’s very easy to issue orders. But that way I always stay the owner.
And when the next person comes in, he changes things with his own orders. Institutionalization
happens when people below take up issues and solve them."
Another factor that worked was that Tripathy always ensured that the constables are involved in
decision making. He asked them "tell me what problems will we face; and how do we go about
overcoming them?"
Initially, the constables were not very aware of different possibilities, so he needed to bring in
additional information like government policies and schemes where people had benefited. From
that kind of information, ideas started flowing. And because ideas came from the individuals
themselves, it led to ownership.
The traditional beat style of keeping a check on officer every hour was reversed to ''You do your
job; I will come wherever you are.” Constables were told that the beat was their baby completely
and they were responsible for it in all ways. If they needed an officer to take a decision, it would
be an embarrassment. They could do whatever they thought was best.
Strategy to overcome prospective challenges
With the kind of freedom and power Tripathy gave the constables, misuse is very likely.
There are two kinds of misuse possible:
• Shirking
• Corruption
Tripathy ensured that this did not happen.
Solution 1:
• There were regular interactions between the SHOs and the beat constables:
Twice a day the SI had to meet them, in the morning and evening to convey information
from the SHO and to take back information from the beat to the SHO. Also, the inspector
or SHO had to meet them on the beat personally at least once a day. In addition, night
patrols had to cover sixty beats every night.

7. • Each beat officer had a walkie-talkie. And if any distress call was received in their area,
they were expected to reach the site before the police team from the station reached - this
soon became a matter of honor.
• Tripathy had flashed his mobile number across the city through the local press, local TV
channels, radio etc. saying he would be available to every citizen for any problem. This
ensured that he got constant and quality information from the public. Again it became a
matter of pride for the beat officers to get information before the commissioner got it.
• Further, complaint boxes were set up in every beat and someone from the commissioner's
office opened them every day. These mainly contained information about offences,
suggestions and information about beat officers. It was embarrassing for the beat officers
if the complaint box contained information they were not aware of.
• Tripathy would meet nearly fifty people a day at his office from different areas, only too
willing to give him feedback about how the beat was working in their areas.
All this ensured that shirking was proactively tackled. But perhaps the major factors that
contributed to an absence of shirking were intangible. The beat officers commanded tremendous
respect in the locality. They were invited for family weddings, asked to inaugurate local events,
called to settle disputes, and were generally looked up to.
Solution 2:
Tripathy dealt with corruption summarily.
• When there were complaints about corruption or about officers favoring some party
workers or community members, and CID/special branch verification had shown that the
complaints were genuine, officers at any level were suspended by Tripathy. This included
senior officers.
• Information was so freely available to the commissioner both through feedback that
openness had come into the system and anything underhand was immediately highlighted
and dealt with.
• Tripathy also dealt ruthlessly with those who broke the law, no matter how powerful.
And this extended to those who commanded considerable political clout. This sent the
message that nobody was above the law and that the commissioner would take care of
those who acted in the interest of the law.
• Empowering the beat officers: Initially the information flow from the beat officer was
directly to Tripathy and he then handed over the information to the inspectors. After the
capability had been built, he brought in the hierarchy because otherwise this could lead to
disciplinary problems. He now asked the beat officer to inform and report to the
inspectors directly. Both knew however, that information was always reaching the
commissioner.

8. Motivating the constables
• He allowed the beat officers to talk to the media and share their own stories and
examples. It was motivating for the beat officers to see themselves on TV talking about
what they had achieved.
• Tripathy realized that the influential always spoke only to an inspector when they came
into a station whereas constables were never spoken to. Since the beat officer was in
charge of the locality, he reversed this. Whenever anyone would ask to speak to the
inspector about a problem, he was politely redirected to the beat officer.
• He initiated a system of ‘weekly Saturday meetings’ of the beat officers with the
community where those in the locality stated their problems. No inspectors were present.
It was just the beat officers and the community.
Creating trust within people
Tripathy realized the importance of gaining the trust of the community people and encouraged
the beat officers to think about the community as a whole and not just about policing.
It emerged that when the municipal council did not do its civic duties, it affected law and order.
Rather than lose credibility, he got a local National Service Scheme (NSS) group of volunteers to
begin laying the road.
With the holistic perspective toward community and civic policing, residents began giving the
police their applications for water, sewage and telephone connections and these were taken up
with the commissioner. To drive the holistic community concept further, he took the Municipal
Commissioner along to visit localities and listen to issues.
This made the community and the police to understand each other and develop trust.
Innovation
• The model was based on a proactive approach unlike the traditional policing model
wherein a crime occurs, gets reported and then the police starts to get information and
solve the crime.
• Its uniqueness lies in empowerment of police and community together, on basic tenets of
democracy, developing mutual trust to tackle crime and public order and work together to
ensure better quality of life.
• The idea of carrying Walkie Talkie sets along with lathies, enabled the supervising
officers to ascertain their location over wireless and meet them at any point of time,
improving the response time.
• Due to availability of WAN, a lot of information and suggestions could be received
through e-mail, people could check their complaint status and seek information. This
helped link the common people to the police.
• The adoption of slums was a unique idea as most of the criminals evolved in these slums
due to poverty.

9. Success
“When J K Tripathy took over as the Commissioner of Trichy police in 1999, people were
extremely suspicious of the police who were seen as extortionists bullying the weak and
genuflecting to the powerful. Within two years of Tripathy's taking over, Trichy had
transformed. 261 dreaded criminals were nabbed; crime rate had dropped 40%. Public-police
relations reached a new high with the public calling the policemen "Anna" and even inviting
them home to family functions.”
- Porus Munshi, Author, Making breakthrough Innovations Happen
• This system has been successful in creating a bond of mutual trust, facilitating free flow
of information and forging a partnership between police and community.
• Drunken-brawls, eve-teasing, activities of local rowdies etc., which, generally, go
unreported to police stations has reduced significantly due to the presence of Beat
Officers on street.
• The model has been successful in maintaining public order by continual inter and intra
community interviews.
• The species schemes for women empowered them to be self-sufficient, self-confident and
lead a respectable life.
• Community Policing Model of this scale has no precedent in the policing community.
• The model has been working in Trichy for the last 5 years and evolved in to one that has
a larger people ownership and participation.
• The Tamil Nadu government has sanctioned the Model in the form of an amendment in
Police Training Manual and a permanent grant being allocated for the initiative.
Recognition
• The initiatives were recognized by International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP),
Washington and conferred International Community Policing Awards2001, at Toronto.
• It was also selected for international innovations Awards Programme of CAPAM during
a conference at Glasgow, Scotland, September 2002.
• The project also received “The Innovation for India Awards” for 2006, conferred by the
Innovation for India Award Foundation, headed by then Chairman and Director General,
CSIR.

10. References
1. http://www.maricoinnovationfoundation.org/awards/ii_awards_2006/pdfs/winners_trichy
police.pdf
2. http://darpg.gov.in/darpgwebsite_cms/Document/file/PMAwards_21042008.pdf
3. http://www.tnpolice.gov.in/pdfs/cmp08.pdf